The report claims Salman F Rahman, Anisul Huq, and Mohammad Ali Arafat “acted in ways that harmed” the government as part of a US “deep state” regime-change operation.
A report by Northeast News has alleged that three senior figures in Sheikh Hasina’s government were “subverted” by the American “deep state” and acted in ways that weakened the Awami League regime ahead of its fall on Aug 5, 2024. According to the report by journalist Chandan Nandy and published on Aug 30, 2025, Awami League sources identified former private investment and industry advisor Salman F Rahman, former law minister Anisul Huq, and former state minister for information Mohammad Ali Arafat as those who collaborated with US officials.
Salman and Anisul were arrested under mysterious circumstances in Dhaka’s Sadarghat area on Aug 13, 2024, while Arafat’s whereabouts remain unknown, with speculation that he may have fled abroad using contacts in the West.
Unnamed Awami League insiders told Northeast News that the trio acted in ways that “harmed the interests” of the Sheikh Hasina government. A former senior minister was quoted as saying Salman held regular meetings with American officials in the United States and effectively “shut out” colleagues from approaching Hasina on government business.The report further alleges that the three were in direct contact with serving and retired US State Department officials in Bangladesh and abroad since at least 2023, These included former US ambassador Marcia Bernicat, and the then assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Donald Lu. It cites an Indian intelligence report dated Jun 2, 2022, which claimed that then US ambassador Peter Haas was part of a broader plan to bring down Hasina’s government.
According to Northeast News, Hasina became aware of mounting US pressure during her last official trip to the United States in September 2023.
At a closed-door meeting with Awami League leaders, she reportedly listed six issues raised by Washington, including joining the Quad, signing defense pacts GSOMIA and ACSA, granting American companies access to 26 oil and gas fields, and adopting positions on Myanmar under the Burma Act. Plans for launching a new media platform were dropped soon after, with sources claiming Salman conveyed this through Arafat.
The report also claims that in December 2024, a US lawmaker’s aide told an Awami League figure in New York that “something major would happen in Bangladesh in six months”.
The article attributes further tension to a televised remark by Arafat during the July-August 2024 student-led mass uprising, when he reportedly said the government had “plenty of bullets” to use — a comment the sources claim fuelled public anger.
Plans to mobilized hundreds of thousands of party activists in Dhaka were cancelled following intervention by Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana, the report claims.
